Wednesday, 15 February 2012

I'm not sure you can even call these brownies - they're so soft and smooth they're almost truffles.

A few weeks ago I found myself in Paul A. Young's Soho shop. As well as buying a box of his chocolates to sample (they were excellent), I bought a brownie. A salted caramel, cocoa nib and white chocolate brownie.

It was so rich, so precious, that I ate it over two days. A slither with tea. A corner for pudding.

The craving set in the moment I ate the last chunk. I had to make some myself.

My quest was made considerably easier by the fact that I'd been given Paul A. Young's book for my 21st birthday. The book has a recipe for bing cherry and coconut brownies. A bit of tweaking and salted caramel and cocoa nib perfection was mine.

I didn't fancy adding in the white chocolate but if you do, I'd go for about 50g of chunks strewn across the top before you swirl. I made double the caramel recipe below to have some spare for another night (and to counteract the inevitable spoons that somehow find their way into my mouth).

I know cocoa nibs aren't always easy to find (I came across some in Whole Foods) but if you can they work brilliantly here - a slightly bitter crunch against all that silky sweet chocolate and caramel.

My friend Becky came over for bread and brownies last night. When we bit into the first pieces our chatter stopped and silence fell. For a few minutes we sat quietly on the sofa, caught by the flavours, exploring the texture. You know food is good when conversation stops and you lose track of your words.

Tip the sugar into a big heavy-bottomed pan in an even layer. Place over medium-high heat. Wait until the edges start to liquify then gently start to move the sugar around onto the wet spots to try and get it to melt evenly - don't stir it. Don't worry if it starts to clump a little, it will melt down later. Keep gently moving the unmelted sugar into the liquid bits until you just have a liquid. Keep cooking until it reaches a deep golden-bronze, almost the colour of a penny. Immediately take off the heat and whisk in about 1/3 of the cream to stop the caramel cooking. Keep pouring and whisking until all the cream is incorporated. Add the butter in chunks and the salt and stir until smooth. Pour into a bowl to cool - at the moment it will pour easily off the spoon in thin ribbons.

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F. Line a 8-9" 20-23cm square tin (that's at least 2.5cm tall) with paper. Add the butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and syrup to the (scraped out, empty) caramel saucepan. Heat until everything is melted together then beat until smooth. Take off the heat then add all the chocolate. Stir until melted and uniform. Lightly whisk the eggs in a small bowl then incorporate them into the mix. Finally add the flour and beat throughly until very smooth and glossy. Pour into the prepared tin.

By now your caramel should be gloriously thick, as in the picture above. Spoon fairly evenly over the mix then use a knife to lightly swirl it through. Scatter the cocoa nibs over the top.

Bake for 20 minutes then take out and leave to cool. Once cool, put into the fridge overnight or the freezer until frozen solid. Slice up with a sharp knife dipped into hot water and cleaned between each cut. Serve cold, warm or at room temperature - up to you!

(Makes about 16-20 small but rich squares)

NOTE 19/02 - I've found these freeze really well and come out perfect & ready to eat if you like them cold - they've generally firmed over time. I think the flavours have intermingled and improved too.

Totally agree with the comments above - these do look absolutely amazing. I love anything with salted caramel and the crunch of cocoa nibs is such a great addition. You can get them in the chocolate shop on the corner of Borough Market (which I think is part of Hotel Chocolat) if you're ever looking for them again :-)

Oh dear! Sorry about that - must have slipped my mind in the sugar coma. You break the eggs up in another bowl then beat them in after the chocolate and before the flour. I'll update the recipe - thank for pointing it out!

Oh my, these look absolutely wonderful!! Salted caramel brownies was the first recipe I wrote on my blog all those months ago but these look so much better. I think the cocoa nib are a brilliant idea as they will cut through the sweet caramel and add texture. Double thumbs up.

Just made these, they are AMAZING (already feel ill from eating too many...). Through the eggs in at the end and it came out just fine. The same with the salt in the caramel, which I think you left off the recipe too. I will have to make a trip to Paul A Young's shop, I've only ever managed to walk past when it's been closed. Great to know you can buy cocoa nibs on Amazon, I always trek up to Whole Foods.

ruthie@thetwicebitten - The cocoa nibs really do add something - I love contrast in things like this. I'll have to have a look at yours too :)

Alex - Oh no - I'm so sorry! I added the salt in at the end with the butter, can't believe I was that forgetful, I'm really embarrassed. Glad you love them though! It's definitely worth a visit, the chocolates are delicious.

mine came out really soft... you have to eat it with a spoon! It has been in the fridge overnight and then in the freezer for like 12 hours. Any idea of what could have gone wrong? It was very wobbly when it came out of the oven. Still tastes amazing tho!

Filoner - They are really soft - not like normal cakey brownies but more like truffles or ganache. I've found after a few days in the freezer they firmed up quite a bit. But still, they're more like toffee/truffle than cake or a chewy bar - they should hold their shape when cut though. Glad you like the taste!

Liz - So sorry that I didn't pick this up in March. In case you do happen to come back or anyone else is interested: I'm not really sure. They're quite unique - adding crunch and a smoky chocolate flavour. I guess the easiest thing to do would be to leave them out completely.

Anon - Oh dear! Sorry to hear that. Is the crumble white or caramel coloured? This is a good guide with step photos to making a dry caramel like this. Overenthusiastic stirring is probably the cause. Perhaps try putting it over a low heat and try to melt it - don't stir. Hopefully it'll slowly liquify again and then you can turn the heat up to caramelise it fully. If not I'm afraid it's probably best to try again. Hope it goes well!

Hi - I've checked back with my notebook and the book I adapted them from and it is four eggs. It is a very liquid batter and the brownies are very gooey and almost like a truffle - they're definitely not cakey. I'd love to hear what happens if you try with three eggs. Hope that helps.

OMG these are amazing! I'm organising an Alice in Wonderland tea party for my daughter's birthday and came across this. I made them yesterday to try them and wow! Really like pecans and salted caramel so swopped the cocoa nibs for pecans. They turned out great! Can i just ask for freezing is it best to freeze them in pieces or one big slab?Thanks so much for this amazing recipe!

These look amazing. I tried a Paul A Young brownie for the first time at the weekend and they are amazing. Like you I ate it in stages so I could savour each amazing slice. They were unlike any brownies I've ever eaten before. I will certainly have to try this recipe.

I just made them last night. They were almost as good as Paul's! My caramel went a bit dry and sticky in the oven though, a little tweaking and I bet it'd be perfect. Thanks for the amazing recipe Emma!

I forgot to leavea message after baking this a few weeks ago! But it was a MAJOR success. I leftout the cocoa nibs (as I didn't have any), but added lemon zest to the dough. Iloved the caramel on top, and everyone at the party loved it too.

So thank you fora great recipe, I will most definitely be making this again!

Hi Emma, I'd love to make these, however, I can't get golden syrup where I live. I googled around a bit, and the most common recommendation is to substitute with honey. I'd prefer not to put any honey in because I don't think it would be the greatest flavour combination, so I was wondering if I could just increase the amount of brown sugar? Do you reckon that would work? Thanks in advance!

Sorry it has taken me a few days to reply, I've been offline on holiday. The reason the golden syrup is in there is that it is a syrup rather than crystals, which changes the texture. Honey does the same job, but as you say it does have a flavour. Can you get liquid glucose? They sell it here in the UK - here for instance. If not then do try the brown sugar but I'm not sure how the texture will change :) Hope that helps!

My wife whipped us up a batch of these today and I am in awe, they are exactly like Paul's, which we spent over £30 on to have delivered a few weeks ago! She just made the plain version(no caramel etc), I normally take the leftovers I to work but these are going I the freezer :D they are like chocolate butter. Thanks for the recipe I'm now going to buy the book. BEST BROWNIE I'VE EVER TASTED

I just made these as a thank-you for my in-laws after they helped us out of a bit of a pickle and OMG, these are the best. If I never had to eat anything but these, I wouldn't mind at all. Thank you so much!